Boyfriend Forgot Your Anniversary? Sorry, Science Is on His Side in This Argument

Too little, too late, buddy. Sigh. Your guy showed up on your anniversary (or your birthday or Valentine's Day or whatever the special occasion might be) empty-handed and completely clueless, and you're mad. His excuses might just make you even more enraged, but he's got one that's kind of legit: science. According to a new Norwegian study, men really are worse at remembering than women. The research asked 48,000 people to report how well they remembered things and found that men do tend to forget more than women. In even less encouraging news, men proved to be just as forgetful whether they were 30 or 60. The research is interesting, but it's important to note that the study didn't directly test memory itself but analyzed people's questions about memory. So, men reported having poorer memories, but it's based on their own self-reporting. Ahem, so maybe they only claim to remember the things they want to remember? (Like, every score of the World Series for the past 47 years, even when he's only lived through 26 of them, but not, say, the birthday of you, his only girlfriend. Ugh.) Plus, here's a potential flaw in your guy's argument that he's

Sigh. Your guy showed up on your anniversary (or your birthday or Valentine's Day or whatever the special occasion might be) empty-handed and completely clueless, and you're mad. His excuses might just make you even more enraged, but he's got one that's kind of legit: science.

According to a new Norwegian study, men really are worse at remembering than women. The research asked 48,000 people to report how well they remembered things and found that men do tend to forget more than women. In even less encouraging news, men proved to be just as forgetful whether they were 30 or 60.

The research is interesting, but it's important to note that the study didn't directly test memory itself but analyzed people's questions about memory. So, men reported having poorer memories, but it's based on their own self-reporting. Ahem, so maybe they only claim to remember the things they want to remember? (Like, every score of the World Series for the past 47 years, even when he's only lived through 26 of them, but not, say, the birthday of you, his only girlfriend. Ugh.)

Plus, here's a potential flaw in your guy's argument that he's just not biologically inclined to remember things: There have been several inventions over the course of time, including paper calendars, calendars on your computer, calendars on your smartphone, and reminders you can set on the latter two to help you remember things. I think you can figure it out, boys.

Is your guy good about remembering dates? Are you? Do you get mad if he forgets?